


Chess

by LittleRedRoseontheValley (TheLifeAndLiesOfFerns)



Category: My Two First Loves (Visual Novel)
Genre: Board Games, Chess, F/M, Fluff, Libraries, Romance, Teaching
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-12
Updated: 2020-09-12
Packaged: 2021-03-06 20:48:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,700
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26425147
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheLifeAndLiesOfFerns/pseuds/LittleRedRoseontheValley
Summary: Noah teaches Emma how to play chess.
Relationships: Noah Harris/Main Character (My Two First Loves)
Kudos: 6





	Chess

It was late afternoon on a Friday. The majority of students had already left school, hoping to seize as much of the weekend as possible.

Noah was at the library, hovering over a chess set, placing the pieces according to the indications on a book opened in his lap, when Emma passed through the window. She was interested about what he could be doing in such a strange setting, and so she stopped by to wonder at the scene.

“Why, take a picture, don’t you?” Noah mumbled, with humour in his tone, after a few minutes of attentive staring. “It’ll last you longer.”

“I’m sorry… I was just curious. Are you playing chess with yourself?” She asked, standing up on the ball of her feet to check out the board.

“Kind of. I’m studying up on strategy.” He responded, showing her the book.

“Ah! Cool!” She marvelled. “So, you play chess, too?”

He shrugged. “I had a lot of free time at juvie. Chess was something they taught us back there.”

“Oh! I…” She stuttered, not knowing exactly what to answer. “My dad, he plays too, on Saturdays at the community centre. My mom never had the patience to learn, though.”

“I like it. It helps focusing in one, mostly inconsequential, thing. It’s relaxing.” He points out. “Would you like to play?”

Emma shook her head emphatically. “Oh, no, I don’t know how to play either.”

“No problem, I’ll teach you.” Noah offered. “Payback for all your history tutoring.”

“Would you? I’d love to learn.” The girl said, eyes bright with excitement. “Wait up! I’ll go around.”

“Just climb up the window. There’s no-one around.” He pointed out.

The cheerleader seemed uneasy with the prospect, but under Noah’s gaze, she caved. He offered her a hand, and so she put up a leg up the ledger and the football player pulled her up inside.

“Hello, there.” He greeted, smiling, having his arms around her.

The teenage girl flushed deeply. “Hey, yourself.”

He let her go, and they took their seats across from each other and the set between them. The room was completely empty, and even more silent than usual, with the librarian nowhere to be seen.

“How did you manage to stay in the library alone, after hours?” Emma asked. “I thought the faculty did not like you.”

Noah shrugged. “They don’t, but they are so underpaid, they don’t really care either way. The librarian left at three and didn’t look back.”

She shook her head in derision. The district really should take better care of the public schools.

“Basically, the aim of the game is to hit the other person’s king, in a move called checkmate.” Noah explained, pointing to the small king sat on his side of the board.

Her eyes drifted over the board, noting how Noah had easily set up the pieces and wondering how he remembered where each one went. “Ah, okay, and how do I do that?”

“Right, well, there are different pieces, so here you have a rook, a knight, and that one’s a bishop.... There’s the king and queen.” The brunet teen gestured to each piece in kind. “The most important thing is to learn how the pieces move, each one has a different pattern. Both the king and queen can move in any direction. However, the king can only be moved one space at a time, but the queen can move as far as the board allows, as long as it’s a straight line.”

“So, what you’re saying is that the Queen is more powerful than the men?” She grinned, wickedly.

“Well, yeah, naturally.” He responded with emphatical certainty. “When they were programming computers to play this game, a guy called Emmanuel Laskier said that the Queen is worth twice as much as the King.”

“Was he right?” She asked.

He shrugged. “His computer beat the world champion in 2005. You tell me.”

“Cool” The girl said, smiling. “Can I give mine a name?”

Noah looked up at her and chuckled at her enthusiasm. “Sure, just don’t get too attached. Chess is a game of sacrifice.”

“Well, that’s too bad, ‘cause you won’t be killing my Queen Emma.” She countered immediately, making Noah laugh and shake his head.

“What are you going to call your king?” He asked nonchalantly, glancing down at the table where the game was resting.

“Let’s see how the game rolls around, then I’ll decide on one. I don’t want to get attached.” Emma said, picking up a pawn that had fallen on its side. “After all, chess is a game of sacrifice.”

“If you sacrifice the King, you lose the game.” He points out.

She pondered, smiling. “Decisions, decisions.”

“What are those ones again? These cute little towers…” Emma cleverly changes the subject, pointing at the piece one of the corners of the board.

“Rooks, they’re called rooks.” Noah corrected with an amused grin, “Rooks can move horizontally or vertically, as many spaces as you like. These ones, the bishops, go diagonally. Knights are a bit tricky; they can move in ‘L’ shapes. So across two spaces and one up or across one and up two.”

The young apprentice nodded, pointing at each piece and reciting what her teacher had said in her head.

“Right! I think I got you, but there is one piece missing. What are these little guys and how do they move?” She picked up one of the smaller playing pieces.

“Yes, of course. Those are called pawns. They can only move forward one or two spaces, but can take an opponent’s piece one diagonal space, too.”

She nodded again.

“Ready to try a game?” Noah asked.

“Let’s give it a go!” Emma straightened her posture and sat with her legs crossed as she focused intently on the board. Noah set the board so she has the whites, allowing her to move first. Not really knowing what to do, she chooses a random pawn to push forward.

A few moves each later, and the game was only ever increasing in difficulty. Her eyebrows were furrowed, confusion written all over her face as her eyes darted across the board.

Noah could not help the soft smile on his face as he admired her concentrated expression, taking in the way the sunlight coming from the open windows framed her soft features. Her lashes casting a shadow on her cheeks, the way her hair shone in the light, the pout of her lips as she tried to think of her next move.

He noticed immediately that, if she moved her knight a certain way, it would put his king in check.

“If you move your knight…” He prompted.

He watched she nod. “Is that the horse one?” She asked, pointing at one of her knights.

Noah nodded in turn. “Yeah, that’s the one. Try moving the other one.”

“Oh, okay! D4 to... D4... D4 to...” She felt her cheeks heating up again as she realized she had no idea exactly where to move the knight to.

“D4 to E6.” Noah supplied easily, and watched as the knight sliced away his bishop.

“Oh! Thank you!” She grinned in gratitude. “How did you see that?”

“Practice. You’ll pick up on it, too.” He replied easily.

Noah studied the board. He noticed that, in two moves he could have her in checkmate, but if he moved his rook to the other side, she would be able to move her bishop to checkmate him.

He enjoyed playing with her. Her comments could be taken as grating or juvenile, but he liked how easy-going she took the game, or how excited she was to learn it.

Back when he was behind bars, the instructors were not very interested or motivated in teaching them, nor the inmates really wanted to learn. He just did it to pass the time.

He wanted to harness that energy, that new-found enjoyment, and a win could help keeping her motivated.

Noah glanced up at her, at her focus on the board, and the decision to throw the game was easy. He moved his rook into the dreadful empty space.

That is when she saw it. Finally, she saw a way to win!

“Oh! Oh! F6 to D8!” She exclaimed excitedly, jumping up on her feet as she moved the bishop to hit the king out of the way. “I did it! Look, Noah, I did it! Oh God!”

Her grin was wide, her sheer excitement evident, and Noah could not help but fall for her even more in that moment.

“Natural talent, I guess.” He said with a shrug as he began to collect up the board pieces.

He was interrupted by she wrapping her arms around him excitedly. “Thank you so much for teaching me! I’ve always wanted to play and now I can!”

She pulled away and grinned up at him when she suddenly realized how close she was to him. Before she could convince herself otherwise, she reached up and pressed her lips to his, wrapping her arms around his neck as he immediately dropped the pawn he was holding onto to grip her waist and kiss back.

Even after kissing her a few times over the last few weeks, he still could not believe when it happened. It seemed like a happiness that should be denied to someone like him.

Too soon for his liking, though, Emma pulled away, a huge grin on her face as she bit her lip and giggled at his lovesick expression.

She leaned down to where her king and queen pieces were stood and held the king up to Noah, “I guess I have a name for him, now! King Noah the Smart. Sounds pretty good, right?”

Noah felt his face grow warm, and he averted his eyes. “Why did you give it this name?”

“Well, if you want me to feel motivated to protect him, I guess I should name him after something I care about.”

He laughed, awkwardly. “I’m sure he’d jump in front of a moving bishop to protect Queen Emma, too.”

“He shouldn’t.” She hugged his midsection. “And he shouldn’t throw games against her, either.”

He smiled, sheepish. “Rematch?”

“You’re on.”


End file.
